Embark Australia is a privately funded, non-profit organisation, governed by an independent board. We’re acting now to eliminate the barriers holding back the growth of a powerful, community renewable energy sector in Australia. Whether those barriers are a lack of project funding, specialist information and advice, reflexive opposition or the impact of poor policy settings, Embark’s mission is to help erode them all.

What we do

Embark is about action, not words. We are working to shift the community energy sector into the mainstream, as a proven and financially viable model capable of attracting large-scale investment and growing to meet its full potential. Inevitably, Australia will need to move towards a low carbon economy. Our challenge is to achieve faster and more material progress now, while overcoming political inertia and fear of change that exists in some parts of the community.

A vibrant community energy sector is an efficient way to unlock the power of the community to support more ambitious action on carbon abatement in Australia over the longer term. At Embark, we are building our capacity to offer effective suport to interested communities including:

developing a best practice toolkit to help rapidly up-skill communities

knowledge transfer and expert advice

building a network of suppliers, contractors, investors and lenders

aggregating services to capture economies of scale

identifying and trouble-shooting market failures

sourcing feasibility and investment funding

attracting large-scale investment for projects, and

advocating for policy changes to grow the sector.

What is Community Renewable Energy?

Community energy projects empower communities to play a constructive role in the response to climate change. They create environmental ‘leadership by example’ and provide lasting economic benefits to regional communities. Community energy projects are renewable energy initiatives: